Liam Neeson boards "Battleship" movie

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Liam Neeson is suiting up to play Admiral Shane in Universal Pictures’ upcoming sci-fi war film “Battleship.”

Inspired by the Hasbro board game of the same name, the movie centers around a battle on land, sea and the sky between Earth’s forces and attacking aliens.

Neeson joins a cast that includes Taylor Kitsch, who plays a naval officer and the admiral’s future son-in-law; model Brooklyn Decker, as the admiral’s daughter; Alexander Skarsgard as a commanding officer and the older brother to Kitsch’s character; and pop-star Rihanna as a weapons analyst on the USS John Paul Jones.

Set for release on May 18, 2012, “Battleship” is being directed by Peter Berg.

Neeson will next be seen in “The Next Three Days” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”